Various inspection and servicing tasks in large technical facilities, such as power stations, require different types of robots if these tasks are intended to be carried out in areas where external access is difficult, the robots must be designed and constructed specifically for the respective purpose, and in very limited numbers. It is therefore highly time-consuming and costly to develop and to construct robots such as these from the start for a specific purpose. When robots such as these are controlled externally, thick and heavy supply cables are required for this purpose, which link the robot to an appropriate external station, in order to transmit control signals and electrical power to the robot, and to transmit position messages from the robot to the external station, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,970 or US 2008148876 A1, which are incorporated by reference.
Although inspection systems are commercially available which allow various sensors for various purposes to be fitted to a platform (for example the “Magman” scanner from Phoenix Inspection Systems Ltd., or the ZR-1 robot system from Zetec, Inc.), a range of use even of such systems which can be used flexibly is, however, restricted. Furthermore, even in the case of these systems, a multiplicity of different cable links are required in order to transmit data, control signals and power between the actual inspection unit and an external control and evaluation unit. In particular, these include separate transmission of various sensor data items from the position determination process from the unit and sensors which are susceptible to defects, and considerably restrict the freedom of movement of the unit, because of the associated cables.